


stubbornness

by WattStalf



Series: The Comedienne and the Comedian [2]
Category: Watchmen - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Homophobic Language, M/M, Only The Fam is genderbent, Rule 63, accidental onesided incest mention?, edie's not a good mom but she tries, laurie is a dude's name too god bless, part of a series, real fuckin dumb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-12 18:35:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7117825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WattStalf/pseuds/WattStalf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Edie and Laurie attend the first meeting of the Crimebusters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	stubbornness

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, it's this "what if Laurie, Sally, and Eddie were genderbent but no one else was" series that I almost abandoned. I didn't mean to write them out of order, but here we are. Maybe someday I'll fill in the gaps.

Edie didn't want to go to this Crimebusters meeting, whatever the fact that name was supposed to mean. Nelson was slipping, if he thought that was any good, if he thought that was anywhere near on par with the Minutemen, but the fact that he even wanted to try this team bullshit again was enough proof of that. It was all so fucking stupid, and she had better shit to do with her time, but once Laurie found out about it, she didn't really have much of a choice in the matter.

Her son was just as stubborn as she was, which was an asset when they were squaring off against a bunch of thugs, but it was a pain in the ass when they both wanted completely different things. And Laurie made it known to her that he was going, whether Edie did or not, and whether she liked it or not, and she knew him well enough to know that he meant it. She also knew him well enough to know that she didn't want him going to something like that by himself, and so she decided that the two of them would have to make an appearance together.

~X~

Laurie was looking at Dr. Manhattan in a way that Edie hoped to god was just awe, though she could tell there was more to it than that, as much as she hated to acknowledge it. She didn't want to have to face the fact that her only son was a goddamn queer- there was a _reason_ she'd never let him meet Nelly before, damn it. But if Laurie _was_ gonna be a goddamn queer, Edie would have at least preferred he drool over someone fucking human. Even that infuriating brat, that Ozymandias, would have been better than Manhattan.

She figured this has to be the worst outcome of this bullshit meeting, didn't think anything else could go more wrong, and then Sal walked in. Edie looked down, wondering if there was any way to get her and Laurie out of there without anyone knowing, but she knew her son and she knew he would make a scene because that's exactly what Edie would have done if she was told she had to leave somewhere with no explanation, and what explanation was there?

So she just ignored him and prayed this wouldn't end in any sort of incident. His costume had changed a little bit over the years, but not much, and he looked kind of sad, still hanging onto his old image like that. He and Nelly made a damn good pair in that regard, and she snickered to herself as she imagined what would happen if someone tried to play matchmaker with them.

The meeting started up not long after that, and it was as much of a train wreck as Edie would have predicted. Nelly really had no idea what he was talking about, and Ozymandias kept challenging him, making it apparent that he thought he should be the one running the shitshow. Laurie wouldn't stop eyeballing Dr. Manhattan, and his girlfriend seemed incredibly unnerved by this, and Sal kept trying to take the attention for himself, despite not really knowing what to do with it when he had it.

“You people are a joke,” Edie muttered, and Sal glared at her. Nelly kept on like he didn't hear her, but she couldn't help making a few more snide remarks when she had the chance. Laurie seemed mortified, but Edie didn't really give a shit. The kid damn well knew that life wasn't fair, after all.

“This is all bullshit,” was the last thing she said before she walked right out of there. She needed a smoke, badly, before she lost her temper and created a scene, and she had a feeling she would still be tempted to do so even after a few puffs of her cigar. Laurie didn't follow her out, but she wasn't in the mood to try and drag him out of there. Let him ogle that blue freak a little longer, she didn't give a damn.

She wasn't sure how long she stood around out there, but then people began to filter out of Nelson's home, and she realized the meeting must have ended without her. All the better; now she wouldn't have to put up with anymore bullshit that night. She watched as the new Nite Owl got into his weird little ship and as Rorschach actually disappeared into the fucking _bushes_ , like some goddamn prowler or something, and Ozymandias went off to wherever the hell it was that little priss went.

But there was still no Laurie, and it occurred to Edie that she hadn't seen Dr. Manhattan leave either. Sighing, she decided to go in before her son made a complete fool of herself, but whens he returned to the room the meeting had been held in, she found that Laurie was not talking with Dr. Manhattan at all. She didn't know how she had managed to forget Sal, but there he was, talking to her son. To  _their_ son, to his son.

“Does your mother mention me much?” he was saying, sounding way too casual.

“Not really,” replied Laurie. “She doesn't talk about any of her old friends. Probably cos she doesn't have any.” He snickered, like he thought he was so fucking funny.

“Well, I just-”

“The hell do you think you're doin'?” asked Edie, making her presence known. Sal looked startled for a moment before offering her a smile, guilt in her eyes.

“I was just talking with La- with the Comedian,” he said. “Since we're all going to be on a team together, I thought we could get to know each other a little better.”

“Hate to burst your bubble, but you're not gonna be on a team together,” she replied.

“What the fuck?” Laurie burst out.

“This is the stupidest waste of time I've ever seen. We've got better shit to do than hang around with these morons.”

“Edie, listen. Don't you think you're being a little unfair? Don't you think you should let him decide? He's not a little kid anymore.” There was more to Sal's words than Laurie would pick up on, but she didn't care how old Sal though Laurie was. He was only sixteen, and he had too much to worry about, and he just wasn't old enough to understand how much of a fuck up his own mother was.

“Don't really see how it's any of your concern,” she shot back, before turning to her son. “Come on, we're leaving.”

“Mother, I don't want-”

“We'll talk about this _later_ , Laurie,” she said, giving him that look that meant that she was not to be fucked with. “But right now, we're _leaving_.”

“ _Fine_ ,” he sighed, waving goodbye to Sal. “See ya, maybe. Whenever I get out of prison.”

Sal snorted and Edie grumbled, “Don't be so goddamn melodramatic.”

~X~

“I just don't get what your beef with him is,” said Laurie when they were home, still pissed off for being pulled out like that. “Did something go down between you two when you were in the Minutemen?”

“I...no, I just don't fuckin' like the guy,” replied Edie. “He's a stuck up little prick. And none of the rest of the clowns are worth spendin' time with either. That meeting was stupid, just like I told you it would be.”

He sighed, shaking his head. “That's such bullshit, you know? You tell me you want me to be a hero, you make me go out and fight with you, you give me this stupid ripoff secret identity, but you never let me choose shit. This team could be fun, at the very least, so I don't see why I can't do it, even if you wanna be a bitch about it.”

“It's a waste of time-”

“You've mentioned that, but that's just _your_ opinion. You could at least let me decide for myself, and not drag me out and embarrass me in front of...” He trailed off, but it was enough to leave Edie horrified. It looked like Dr. Manhattan wasn't the only one to catch Laurie's eye that night, and if there was one thing worse than her son turning out to be queer, it was her son turning out to be queer _and_ attracted to his own father. This was all getting way, way too fucked up.

“Look, I don't care what ya do with your spare time, or who you wanna screw.” Laurie flushed when she said that, confirming her suspicions. “But for the love of all that is good and holy, do _not_ let me catch you lustin' after someone older than me.”

“I'm not...it's not like that,” he mumbled, and she felt a bit bad for him. It couldn't be easy, feeling the way he did, and she wished that she could understand him a little bit better on that front.

“I wouldn't care if it was,” she replied, trying to sound supportive. Laurie brightened just a bit.

“I mean, if it _was_ ,” he said, “I don't know if Sal would be my first choice, you know? I think I'd have more... _exotic_ taste.” Really, Dr. Manhattan didn't seem like such bad first crush material when Edie had it put into perspective. She didn't approve in the slightest.

“Yeah, whatever.” She still didn't want to talk about it, or anything else, for that matter. It had been a long night, and she was ready to be done with it. “How about we talk about this Crimebusters thing in the morning?”

~X~

Edie couldn't fucking sleeping, and she knew that seeing Sal again was going to have a bad effect on her, but she didn't know it was going to be  _this_ bad. No matter how she convinced herself that she was over all of that, that she was over him, she wasn't. She didn't know if she ever would be, and that royally pissed her off. Things were  _over_ between them, they were acting as if nothing had ever happened, and yet it took seeing him once to put her right back in her old frame of mind, thinking about him like she was sixteen again, like she still wanted a chance with him.

She often wondered what would happen if she tried to back to him, if she were really honest about everything and if she told him she wanted to try again. There wasn't anything stopping her from trying besides her own stubbornness, but that was more than enough to keep her away from him. She knew she still had feelings for him and she knew that she probably always would, but she couldn't bring herself to try and mend fences or to try and express this to him. It was, she was sure, much too late for all of that.

 


End file.
